Cuthbert Binns
|title = Professor |species = *Human (formerly) *Ghost |gender = Male |hair = White (balding) |eyes = Black |skin = Pale |family = Mr Binns (father) |job = Professor of History of Magic (before 1975-after 1998) |loyalty = *Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry *Binns family |theme = spirit |bgcolor1 = |bgcolor2 = |hideb = |hidep = |hidef = |hidem = hide |hidea = }} Professor CuthbertImage url of https://www.pottermore.com/image/the-legend-of-the-chamber-of-secrets - "CuthbertBinns_PM_B2C9M1_CuthbertBinnsTeachingAboutTheChamberOfSecrets_Moment.jpg" Binns was a wizard and History of Magic professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He owned an office in the main castle and Classroom 4F on the first floor to teach in. He taught until a very old age, when he fell asleep in the staff room and died in slumber. Afterwards, he became a ghost who continued to teach, droning on about various Goblin Rebellions and Giant Wars to bored, sleeping students. Professor Binns's lessons were regarded as some of the most boring at Hogwarts, and only once in known history did he talk about something not strictly factual. During the 1991–1992 school year, he taught his first year students about numerous historical personalities such as Uric the Oddball and Emeric the Evil, whom the class always got confused with. The following academic year, he relayed the legend of the Chamber of Secrets to his second year class, but only after every student in the class showed complete and utter interest, despite initially stating the legend of the Chamber to be unimportant. He continued to teach Harry Potter and his class for three further years, until most, if not every one of his students dropped History of Magic after completing their Ordinary Wizarding Levels. Biography Early life Cuthbert was born into the Binns family, with Mr Binns as his father. It was said that his father always used to say something to him, but Cuthbert fell asleep in the middle of his sentence before he could say what it was. - GBC version Career at Hogwarts Earlier years Cuthbert came to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and applied for the post of Professor of History of Magic, which he was granted. Cuthbert - now known as Professor Binns - was given Classroom 4F on the first floor near a mossy courtyard to teach in, as well as an office in the fifth-floor corridor. His lessons were known to be the most boring in all of Hogwarts; he read from his never-ending collection of notes. His students, whom he never payed any attention to, would fall asleep listening to his droning, reedy voice, eventually waking up to copy down a name or date, but falling asleep again. Later years and death Professor Binns was still teaching well into his elderly years at Hogwarts, still lecturing students on History of Magic. Now so old that he looked like a wrinkled tortoise, Binns went down to the staffroom on the ground floor and went to sleep in front of the fire. However, he died in his sleep and, when he got up to teach his next class, was a ghost. Regardless, he did not seem to notice, though he did begin to fly into his classroom through the blackboard, but his lessons were still just as boring as ever. It was said the most exciting thing that happened in his class was when he entered through the blackboard. Post-mortem 1970s During the 1970s, Professor Binns taught James Potter, Lily Evans, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. For unknown reasons, Binns gave one of his Chocolate Frog Cards, that of Circe, to James Potter, which later fell into the hands of Quirinus Quirrell who put it into his vault, number 998. 1988–1989 school year In the 1988–1989 school year, one of the groups Binns taught had 16 fifth year students which included Jacob's sibling, Nymphadora Tonks and Charlie Weasley. As always, these classes were seen as boring by most students. Sometimes Tonks used her Metamorphmagus ability to transform into Binns in order to make lessons more interesting. Most of the time, Binns did not pay attention to the class, leading to students doing activities such as tasting candy or playing Exploding Snap. History of Magic Class When preparing to enter the Portrait Vault, Jacob's sibling went to Binns along with Bill Weasley and Merula Snyde in order to learn about dragons. Later, the three, along with Patricia Rakepick, Ben Copper and either Charlie Weasley or Penny Haywood went to Binns to learn about Portkeys. 1991–1992 school year During the 1991–1992 school year, Professor Binns gained the famous Harry Potter as a student. However, Binns did not notice his legendary pupil, since he did not pay any attention to his class as he read through his notes, expecting them to copy down bullet points. That year, Binns taught his first years about historical figures such as Uric the Oddball and Emeric the Evil, whom his students always got confused with. Harry also said that he considered History of Magic to be "easily the most boring lesson" in the school. However, Binns also gained a gifted student, Hermione Granger, who alone seems to be immune to the soporific effects of his lectures, as she listened and took notes seriously. 1992–1993 school year ]] The following year, the Chamber of Secrets was reopened and Mrs Norris, Argus Filch (the Caretaker's) cat, was petrified by Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk. Regardless, the school ran as normal and one of Professor Binns's homework he gave out just after the attack was a three-foot essay on The Medieval Assembly of European Wizards. While lecturing his second years on the International Warlocks' Convention of 1289, Hermione Granger raised her hand and asked about the legend of the Chamber. Despite initially refusing to grant her wish, he relayed the legend after seeing the unusual amount of interest and attention his class were giving him. After reciting the story, each of his pupils argued against his belief that there was no Chamber, but he put a stop to them and their theories and, within five minutes, had bored them to sleep with his lecture. Later on in the year, he was visited by the Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, who told him that Harry Potter and Ron Weasley would be absent from his History of Magic class due to their visit to the petrified Hermione Granger. 1993–1994 school year During the 1993–1994 school year, Professor Binns continued to teach Harry Potter and his classmates. One night in the winter term, Binns allowed Professor Remus Lupin, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, to teach Harry how to cast the Patronus Charm in the History of Magic Classroom. 1994–1995 school year The following academic year, Professor Binns gave his fourth years a huge workload of writing an entire composition every week, in preparation for their Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations in their next year. Since Harry Potter had been chosen as a champion for the Triwizard Tournament, he was exempt from the End-of-Term Exams, and so, paid less attention to Binns than usual and spent the time looking up fresh hexes for the Triwizard Tasks. It was known that one History of Magic lesson was two classes before the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament, followed by Transfiguration with Minerva McGonagall. Also, the History of Magic Fourth year exams were on the day of the Third and Final Task of the Tournament. 1995–1996 school year , Hogwarts High Inquisitor]] For one of his first classes of the 1995–1996 school year, known to be a Monday, Professor Binns lectured his fifth year students on wars caused and participated in by Giants, which would have been interesting had it been taught by a more engaging teacher. After an hour of lecturing, Binns left the classroom through the blackboard. He had another History of Magic class the following Monday, just after Dolores Umbridge's appointment as the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, which was noted to be just as boring, drowsy and depressing as the last. That year was the year of his students' Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations, and he made his students write down notes for them to revise from for their exams. It was unknown if Umbridge inspected Binns's classes that year, as she was not present during Harry's lectures. 1997–1998 school year During the 1997–1998 school year, Voldemort had seized control over Hogwarts. It was unknown how this affected Professor Binns or if he took any part in the Battle of Hogwarts against the Death Eaters. After the War It is likely that Professor Binns continued his long tenure as Professor of History of Magic after the war. Physical description Professor Binns, as being a ghost, was described as looking ancient and shrivelled, and looked a little like an old tortoise when he pursed his lips. He wore glasses, which were small and thick, and had a dry, reedy voice that sounded a lot like an old vacuum cleaner, droning on and on. Personality and traits Professor Binns did not display much of a personality, as all he did was read his notes in a droning voice to his students, while oblivious or disinterested about how everyone simply dozed off from boredom. However, it can be seen that he was very impatient and did not take the liberty of learning his students' names, calling Hermione Granger "Miss Grant", Parvati Patil "Miss Pennyfeather", Seamus Finnigan "O'Flaherty" and even the famous Harry Potter "Perkins". It's possible he was actually calling them by the names of previous students from years ago, possibly due to senility as he was very old at the time of death. Binns was also shown to be a firm disbeliever in legends and mythology, dedicating his studies and lectures on "solid, believable ''fact". He is said to have a drawling monotonous voice, which most of his students become quickly bored with. Magical abilities and skills *'History of Magic: Being the Professor of History of Magic at Hogwarts, he was an authority in and thoroughly knowledgeable of magical history, teaching the subject for several decades at Hogwarts School, with his rich and varied historical knowledge spanning much of wizarding history. *Magizoology: Binns was shown to be knowledgeable in the study of magical creatures, as he had knowledge about the traits of several different breeds of dragons. *'''Teaching skills: Binns must have proven himself to have been an adequate teacher to have acquired his position at Hogwarts as a Professor whilst he was alive. However, his teaching after his death had proven to be ineffective, as he simply read notes in a droning manner that lulled many students to fall asleep. His unenthusiastic manner of communications, lack of interest in his students' attention, and his refusal to delve into what he considered to be myth, greatly hampered his skills in delivering information to his class and keeping them interested in his subject. Possessions *'Office': While teaching at Hogwarts, Binns had an office on the fifth floor. *'Books': Binns owned several books, including a Draconifors spellbook, Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century, and several other books. Etymology *"Binns" is from "binoculars", a slang term for spectacles. Notice that Professor Binns wore very thick glasses. *A bin is a large storage container. A dustbin is British English for a garbage can. This boring professor could be described as a ghostly storage for information that many Hogwarts students view as rubbish. Behind the scenes *Professor Binns does assign homework and essays, though as he is a ghost it's unknown how he is able to mark them. Given this, it is possible he has a student assistant, like the ones in Music and Muggle Studies. Alternatively, he might be in possession of a quill that he can tell what to write and therefore does not need to actually touch it to grade papers. *Binns has not appeared in any of the films nor the PC games. His explanation in of the legend of the Chamber of Secrets is instead given by Professor McGonagall in the film and Professor Flitwick in the PC game. *In the videogame Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, there is one History of Magic classroom featured on the Fourth Floor corridor. Professor Binns, however, is never seen in the game. *The only video games Professor Binns has made an appearance (so far) are the Game Boy Color adaptations and , although he was mentioned in the Order of the Phoenix video game. On the Game Boy Color versions Binns has a tendency to fall asleep during lectures and to forget about things. *Professor Binns' first name only appeared on a list of the Hogwarts professors which was released on . *Professor Binns is seen in the book series as a stereotyped old man; he forgets things seconds after hearing them, has a slow droning voice, and gets irritable at times. *As Binns became a ghost, he can no longer move beyond the veil, and will remain earthbound for all eternity. This means that unless he resigns or is sacked, he would be the History of Magic teacher forever. *Since Binns died in the staffroom, and continued on as if nothing happened, it can be assumed that he feared death (or what lies beyond the veil). Perhaps teaching was what Binns wanted to do, for literally all eternity. *In "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey" ride in Orlando Florida, Dumbledore mentions that Professor Binns will be giving the audience a lecture entitled Hogwarts Through the Centuries and that it will be "...long". Harry, Ron and Hermione sneak the audience out of the Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom before Professor Binns shows up. *In , Binns states, "There is not a shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built so much as a secret broom cupboard!" Ironically enough, there is a secret broom cupboard in Hogwarts: the Weasley twins told Harry that when they were running away from Filch once, they took refuge in a broom cupboard, which was later revealed to be the Room of Requirement. *According to the Prisoner of Azkaban transcript on thepensieve.org, Professor Binns makes an appearance in the film, as a ghost who reports to Dumbledore shortly after "The Flight of the Fat Lady." However, if this is true, none of Binns' more memorable traits are portrayed in the films. * Binns' recollection of his father strongly suggests that not only did he pick up his droning style of speech from him, but that like his own students, it put Binns himself to sleep from boredom. Author's comments "The most productive ghost at Hogwarts is, of course, Professor Binns, the old History of Magic teacher who fell asleep in front of the staff-room fire one day and simply got up to give his next class, leaving his body behind. There is some debate as to whether or not Professor Binns realises he is dead. While his entrance to lessons through the blackboard is vaguely amusing the first time students see it, he is not the most stimulating teacher. The inspiration for Professor Binns was an old professor at my university, who gave every lecture with his eyes closed, rocking backwards and forwards slightly on his toes. While he was a brilliant man, who disgorged an immense amount of valuable information at every lecture, his disconnect with his students was total. Professor Binns is only dimly aware of his living students, and is astonished when they begin asking him questions." Appearances * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Notes and references de:Cuthbert Binns de2:Cuthbert Binns es:Cuthbert Binns et:Cuthbert Binns fi:Cuthbert Binns fr:Cuthbert Binns it:Cuthbert Binns no:Cuthbert Kiste pl:Cuthbert Binns pt-br:Cuthbert Binns ru:Катберт Бинс Category:Binns family Category:Black-eyed individuals Category:British individuals Category:Ghosts Category:Historians Category:Hogwarts employees Category:Males Category:Professors Category:Wizards